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Magazine

Mar 26, 2015

Two days ago a Germanwings airplane was reported missing over the French Alps.
Mere hours later it was reported as crashed into those Alps. There was very little hope for the 150 people on board.
The big question was What happened? Did something mechanical fail, did the pilots make an error? The data recordings found on the black box gave us a quick and very disturbing answer.
As it turns out the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, had locked himself in the cockpit when the pilot went for a toilet break, and steered the plane, carrying amongst others 16 students and two teachers from a school in Germany, straight into a mountain side.
Some would call it suicide, but we'll just call it murder.

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French gendarmes and investigators make their way through the debris of the Airbus A320 at the site of the crash near Seyne-les-Alpes, French Alps EMMANUEL FOUDROT/REUTERS